Welcome John!!
I certainly agree that Paul alludes only to the heavenly archons and not earthly rulers (also along the lines of Wells, Doherty, et al.), but what I was skeptical of was whether Mark as it was first composed (i.e. Ur-Mark) related the trial, judgment, and resurrection in specifically Pauline terms, or whether the narrative endeavor from the start was designed to historicize the archons as human rulers, or even whether the composer drew more directly from the "Suffering Servant" of Deutero-Isaiah which referred to human kings, princes, despots, and crowds (Isaiah 49:7; 52:14-15). Regarding the spoiling of the Sovereignties and Powers in Colossians 2:15, it is clearly stated as a consequence of Jesus "nailing the Law to the cross" in the previous verse (v. 14), and this view depends on Paul's notion that "the Law was promulgated by angels" (Galatians 3:19; compare Hebrews 2:2) and that the "death of Christ" freed man from the Law (2:15-21), which had previously enslaved them "to the Stoichea of the world" through sin (4:3, 9; compare Colossians 2:20). Since Christ was "subject to" this same Law and was "cursed" by this same Law (3:13; 4:4), Christ's judgment would have been under the domain of the Law, whether as it is practiced on earth or in heaven. And since the Law places humanity under the tyrrany of the angels and unseen powers (Galatians 3:19; 4:3; Colossians 2:14-15), the Pauline allusions to these powers would not by themselves require a non-earthly interpretation, or would they? Then there is the very old ANE belief that what happens on earth between kings and governments are reflections of conflicts between the gods in heaven, and we see a late reflex of this in Daniel which designates angelic "princes" as the unseen leaders of the warring kingdoms of Persia, Greece, and Judea (cf. Daniel 10:13, 20-21; 12:1), the belief in rabbinical literature (cf. Targum Ps.-Jonathan) that angels maintain the borders between the nations, and the frequent notion in Qumran texts that the armies and leaders of the world are led by "Belial and all the angels of his dominion" (1QM, 11Q13; 4Q177). The same notion appears in Revelation 13:2 which has Satan the Devil (the Dragon) "handing his power and throne and worldwide authority" to the Roman empire (the Beast), and Luke 4:5-6 similarly has the Devil declaring that "the kingdoms of the world ... have been committed to me and I give them to anyone I chose". Thus, unseen spiritual forces may have been thought to lie behind both the Jewish Law and earthly rulers (but then compare Romans 13:1), and if Paul held such a view, his focus on what happened at the heavenly, spiritual level could simply be due to his redemptive theology which viewed all the very important things as happening at the mystical level between Christ and the unseen Archons, and not at the human level between Christ and earthly rulers. Of course, as you noted, there is indeed no reference to earthly rulers (tho "crucifixion" still sounds too specific imho, unless we are thinking in terms of Prometheus) and rather meager evidence in Paul of an earthly existence of Jesus, so I am not necessarily vouching for this point of view, I'm just wondering how it could be excluded?
I was also wondering if you can comment on these posts of mine:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/66120/1030844/post.ashx#1030844
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/66538/1032453/post.ashx#1032453
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/66538/1033115/post.ashx#1033115
Back to Mark, I thought that the presence of both the secular leaders and religious leaders in the trial owed somewhat to Deuteronomy 21:1-9 which named both the "elders/judges of the city" and "the priests, sons of Levi" as the two parties involved in the ceremony. And very interesting what you related re Deuteronomy 27:12 on "Judah Issachar", especially in connection with v. 25: "A curse on him who accepts a bribe to take an innocent life". Great find! Do you think there might also be a connection with Sychar, the Samaritan town that played a significant role in John?